May 23—OTTAWA — Homeowners in Allen and Putnam Counties, outside of Lima, as well as those living in the city of Delphos, needing help with home repairs may be able to find some of that help in the coming months.

The Allen County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to enter into a joint cooperation agreement with Putnam County and the city of Delphos to submit a joint application for funding to the Ohio Department of Development's Community Housing Impact and Preservation program.

This program allows qualifying homeowners who need assistance covering the cost of home repairs to ensure those projects are funded at no cost to them. Based on population, Allen County and Putnam County could each qualify for up to $400,000, with Delphos eligible for up to $300,000, creating a total of $1.1 million in potential home repair assistance funds.

Putnam County Grants and Wages Coordinator Ashley Siefker will be submitting the grant request to the state next month on behalf of both counties and Delphos, working with the Great Lakes Community Action Partnership. Once the grant is approved, she will work with homeowner applications for Putnam County while GLCAP will handle the Allen County and Delphos project applications.

"We have an application that will list personal information, like how many people are in the home, how old they are and things like that," Siefker said. "We ask for documentation like bank statements for six months, and we ask for utility bills and mortgage information. Do you have homeowners insurance? Do you have any public assistance coming in?"

To qualify, homeowners must be at 80 percent or below the median income for the county or municipality in which they live. Siefker also advised that those wishing to participate wait until the fall to apply, since any eligibility evaluation would expire after six months.

"Get with me in October or November and we'll get you qualified because we can't touch that money until we get the release from the state," she said. "There's an actual letter that comes from the state that says we're good to go. We can't start anything until we get that letter, and that usually doesn't happen until February or March."

To learn more about the program, go to the Ohio Department of Development's website at https://bit.ly/3MT44Rt or the GLCAP website, https://bit.ly/3q3FeFs.

Reach Craig Kelly at 567-242-0391 or on Twitter @cmkelly419.